Bowlers shine as Giants keep hopes of playoff alive with Capitals romp

Mohammad Abdullah, Senior Sports Reporter

A combined effort by the bowlers, backed up with some superb fielding, helped Gulf Giants register a 19-run come-from-behind victory over Dubai Capitals in their DP World ILT20 match in Dubai on Tuesday.

All the Giants bowlers clicked together when it mattered the most to thwart Capitals to 107 after posting a total of 126/9. With the victory, Giants not only kept their hopes alive but also boosted their chances of making it to the playoffs. As they moved to the third spot with eight points.

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Defending a below par score, Giants refused to give up and made some early in-roads through some excellent bowling and extraordinary fielding. They took brilliant catches and frustrated the batsmen with tight fielding which prompted them to take suicidal singles and lose their wickets.

Warner’s bad patch with the bat continued as he was the first to go. He gave a soft catch to Jordan at the short mid-wicket while playing a half-hearted shot.

A charged-up Giants bowlers choked the flow of the runs before Rahmanullah Gurbaz hit two consecutive sixes off Blessing Muzarabani to take the pressure off.

Capitals raced to 30 from 15 in the fourth over. But Muzarabani had the last laugh as he trapped Gurbaz with a bait. The Afghanistan batsman could not connect the slower one properly and Jordan completed an easy catch.

Capitals kept on losing the wickets at regular intervals and failed to get the partnerships going. Sam Billing was clean bowled by Jordan before Erasmus uprooted the stumps of Max Holden as Capitals were reduced to 53/4.

A 20-run stand between Sikandar Raza and Ben Dunk seemed to have revived the innings before Capitals lost two wickets on the same score. Dunk was found short of ground as Vince dismantled the bails with a direct throw.  Raza was clean bowled by Ayaan Afzal Khan as Capitals lost the sixth wicket.

Vince again effected another run out with an accurate throw, which was collected well by Smith, who dislodged the bails to derail the chase. Zuhaib Zubair bowled Olly Stone before Ayaan had Akif Raja caught by Erasmus.

The Capitals still needed 37 runs off 4.2 overs. Dasun Shanaka and Haider kept the chase alive and brought the equation down to 17 needed off the last 10 balls.

Ali became the third man to be run out and Capitals innings folded at 107. Shanaka’s valiant effort went in vain. He scored a fighting 26-ball 24.

Earlier, Giants’ knack of losing wickets in bulks in the beginning of the innings and then depending on Shimron Hetmyer for rescue acts seem to be becoming stronger with every match.

The story was no different on Wednesday in Dubai. This time around, it was Kuggeleijn and Stone, who were the tormentors-in-chief for Giants until Hetmyer took the guard to begin the repair work once again.

The Giants needed to win all their remaining matches to keep their playoffs hopes. But once again they got off to a stuttering start, losing the first wicket for 11 runs. They are facing a persistent problem with the opening pair. They have not been getting off to a stable start.

Kuggeleijn triggered the collapse with the dismissal of opener Jamie Smith. He was taken by Shanaka after hitting a couple of boundaries. In the next over, Stone struck twice on the successive deliveries to push Giants on the back foot completely.

Lynn fell prey to a spell-binding running catch by Kuggeleijn off Stone at the square leg. Stone foxed Cox and uprooted his stumps with an inswinger on the next delivery to make it 12/3.

Kuggeleijn returned to heap more misery on the struggling Giants as he sent Gerhard Erasmus back five runs later.

The Giants were tottering at 17/4 in their must-win game. Hetmyer and captain James Vince knuckled down to anchor the innings. They added 51 runs for the fifth wicket to bring the innings back on track.

Vince belted a 28-ball 32 with the help of four boundaries to keep the Capitals’ bowlers at bay from the one end. He was caught and bowled by Haider Ali, who picked up his first scalp of the day.

 Ayaan Afzal Khan, along with Hetmyer took the score to 91 before he was retired. He was called back by the coach Andy Flower as he was batting at snail’s pace.

His slow scoring rate prompted Andy to call him back to the pavilion as he had consumed 17 deliveries for his 10 hard-fought runs. Flower wanted to send somebody who could spur the run rate with Hetmyer without wasting too many balls.

As luck would have it, soon after Ayaan was called back by the coach, Hetmyer was also dismissed as Giants lost two wickets within a span of one run. Hetmyer's fighting knock came to an end when he failed to get to the pitch of the ball and tried to hit over the deep midwicket region but could travel to find Kuggeleijn near the boundary rope.

His innings was studded with four fours only. He became the third victim of Stone.

This was Hetmyer’s third consecutive knock when he played the role of a rescue man for Giants. In the last game, he had scored an unbeaten 50 off 18 balls. Giants were in tatters and were facing the fear of being all out even without playing full 20 overs.

They needed partnerships but were losing the wickets not on regular intervals but in quick-succession. Kuggeleijn had Chris Jordan caught by Akif Raja to pick up his third wicket before Stone rattled the stumps of Jamie Overton in the next over to leave Giants in rut. He returned with a figure of 4/14.

A late blitz of 24 off 11 balls by Drakes took Giants to a respectable total of 126/9 in their allotted 20 overs. He remained unbeaten and hit three sixes during his stint at the crease. Those were the only sixes hit by Giants.